To Love a Fire Demon
by roo17
Summary: Axel was always different. That's why everyone shuns him. But when he suddenly finds himself in a house that belongs to a boy name Roxas, will he finally be accepted and loved? Sucky summary. AkuRoku.
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

To Love a Fire Beast

**A/N: Okay! So I was looking through fanfiction for some cool Axel stories when I came across this one story called The Other Side of Sandpaper. It was the first AkuRoku I've ever read, and I instantly fell in love with the pairing. Because of all her stories, I have become a huge fan of the pairing. So, I hope to try and attempt to write an AkuRoku story. So, without further ado, please enjoy **_**To Love a Fire Beast.**_

_**Prologue**_

_~Twenty Years Earlier~_

A light redheaded mother had just given birth to her newborn son who now lay comfortably in her caring arms. The child had been born at four ponds, seven ounces and was quite skinny for a newborn. She looked up at her black-haired husband who gave her a warming smile as he gently held his baby's tiny hand. "He's beautiful, honey." She grabbed his free hand and held it close to her chest, kissing it as tears of joy spilled from her eyes.

"Look at the color of his hair, it's almost a deep red," she noted, quietly.

"Maybe he'll be a redhead like you." She gave a laugh and looked back down at her son.

"I don't know though. I've never seen a baby with this color hair before…"

"It'll be fine." Her husband gave her a kiss on the head as he took a seat next to the hospital bed. "Now, the most important question of all…" He gave a quiet drumroll sound effect. "What should we name him?"

"I was thinking about that while I giving birth… and I think the name Axel sounds nice. Don't you think so?" She asked as she looked at her lover. He gave a kind smile in response.

"Axel is perfect. Look, he's opening his eyes." And as Axel opened his eyes for the first time in his life, he smiled and laughed at his parents shocked expressions as they looked into his eyes.

**_~Present Day~_**

Axel sat on branch of a banyan tree, the shades of the higher branches hiding him from the rest of humanity. His eyes scanned his the park for any passerby's before easily climbing down from the tree-maze. He landed on the ground perfectly before putting his hands in his black pants pockets and heading over to a grassy hill to watch the beautiful daily sunset. His white and black checkered shirt slightly swayed in the small breeze. His naturally spiky red hair soaked in the orange sunset rays as Axel took in a deep breath of the chilly evening air; a small smile twitching at his lips as he temporarily forgot all his problems and worries. He scratched his wrist where black-bands lay, his other wrist holding ones that were identical. But his peacefulness and tranquility were interrupted when an older man around seventy stepped into the clearing to his side, pointing a finger at the redhead.

"You! You're the one they're looking for, aren't you!" Axel turned his head towards the old man, his body still facing the sunset.

"No, I think you have the wrong person." But the man just shook his head, still pointing at him.

"No, you're him alright! Officer! Hey–" The old man turned his head away to call a police officer that wasn't far away. Axel sighed, shaking his head and setting his hands back into his pockets. This always happened. He never goto to enjoy anything. A strong breeze blew a pile of leaves in between the old man and himself. He took the opportunity to make his escape and sighed. _'For once,'_ he thought, _'I would like to be able to enjoy the sunset without having to hide or be interrupted.'_ As the police officer and the old man looked at the redhead, a pile of leaves blocked their view.

"Stop! Don't move from where you are!" The officer ordered as they tried to see past his blockage. When the leaves passed, Axel was gone. All that remained in place was a tiny patch of slightly singed grass.

**XxXxX  
****A/N: Okay, yes, oh my goodness, I made a prologue! Don't kill me for it being so short. Summary in the next chapter. So yeah, this is my first KH/AkuRoku story EVER. So don't kill me okay? Please review your thoughts! Thank you~!**

_The darkness I liveth, the darkness I love  
__~roo the nobody vampire_


	2. Chapter 2: Turks,Rivers and Roxas, oh my

To Love a Fire Demon  
Chapter One: ShinRa Turks, Rivers and Roxas, Oh My!

Summary: Axel is different, always has been. It's why people shunned him, they were afraid of him or downright hated him. But one day, he suddenly finds himself thrown into a boy named Roxas's life. Will this single boy be able to change Axel's point of view on everything, or will he just end up as one of the many who fear Axel's strange characteristics? (Long summary, no?)

Pairings: AxelxRoxas, little SoraxRiku and maybe a few others that I can't think of at the moment.

**A/N: Okay, so chapter one is here! I hope I didn't bore you to death with my very short prologue. If I did, I apologize. Now, I guess if you really are interested with this story, I won't delay you any longer.**

**XxXxX**

Axel walked down an old dirt road, the moon being his only light in the darkness. Thankfully, tonight's sky was clearer than it has been in months, and the almost-full moon shined brightly among the glittery stars. Axel stifled a small yawn as he scratched the back of his neck; his eyes watching the ground in front of him to make sure he didn't trip in any holes. He pulled out his cellphone and flipped it open to see the time. "10:30 already? Geez, where does the time go…" He would have continued to say _'When you're having fun'_ but at the moment, he wasn't having this thing called 'fun'. In fact, he hardly ever had 'fun' anymore now that he was considered an adult. (Of course, he'll always be a child at heart.) Anyway, putting his cellphone back into his pocket, he glanced around at his surroundings to get a better idea on where he was at. All he could see was the town behind him, open fields all around, mountains in the far off distant east, and a tree to his right not too far away. "That would make a great sleeping spot." He made his way over to the object before inspecting it closely; squinting his eyes only to small fire-ants climbing all over the tree's branches and trunk. He gave a sigh. Of course. The only tree in sight, and it's covered with ants. He glanced up at the sky and gave it a small glare. "Glad you get a kick out of watching me suffer, ya sadistic bastard Gods."

He brought a hand up to his cheek and touched the skin under his eyes, the place where his birthmarks were. To him, they weren't a gift. They were a curse. He cursed the upside-down teardrop birthmarks under his eyes and he cursed the Gods too; uncaring if he went to hell for that or not. It was their fault he was suffering from the loneliness and cruelness of humanity. He gave sight and slouched a little. He had nowhere to sleep tonight, which another night of random wandering. _'That's alright'_, the thought, _'I wasn't tired anyway.'_ Axel had been having sever problems lately with a thing the humans called 'insomnia.' Oh how he hated it, but provided that he didn't even have anywhere to sleep, it wasn't _too_ much a bother. But it will be once he found a nice, comfortable sleeping spot. "And besides, I don't feel like dreaming tonight. So I might as well head over to the next town already. This one was just too damn small for my liking." So he headed out towards the horizon without looking back, something he had done most of his life.

A few days later he found himself in the small town called Traverse Town. It wasn't all that bad looking; seeing most of the buildings were made of bricks rather than cement and the fact that everyone seemed more kind also made it nicer. The first place Axel stopped at was a restaurant called Cid's Bar and Grill. (Don't ask XD) It was a nice place, busy but not too crowded. He sat himself down at a table and grabbed a menu, looking over the delectables to see which one sounded more tasty. A waitress with long brown hair in a braid came up to him wearing a pink and red apron, a rather kind smile on her face.

"Hello, my name is Aerith. May I take your order?" Axel nodded, putting on a small fake smile to be kind.

"Um, may I please have the Onion and Mushroom Steak please?" She wrote the order before giving a small nod. She filled up a cup of ice cold water for him and then made her way over to the kitchen to drop the order off. Axel looked around at the ceiling, windows and booths before shrugging a little. "Nice little place." After about six minutes of waiting, he finally had his steak served to him. He took the first bite and let his mouth water as the spices and meat collided with his taste buds. "Wow, this really good." He cut himself another piece off, enjoying every second of his meal. It wasn't until he had two pieces left to eat did you notice two men in black jackets walk into the restaurant did he tense up. He knew those two guys, they were from ShinRa, a place that collected 'special' people and experimented on them, either turning them into monsters or making them into soldiers to do the company's dirty work. The guy on the left had black hair pulled back into a ponytail, a small dot was in the middle of his forehead. The other man beside him was a darker skinned man who was bald and wearing black glasses. Both looked around the restaurant before walking over to the waitress who served Axel. When they pulled out a picture to show what the person they looked for looked like, Axel quickly stood up and walked towards the exit, leaving on the table a ten dollar bill to pay for his lunch. He quickly walked out of the restaurant and searched for a place to hide. When no place turned up, he quickly ran to the back of the restaurant and was rather annoyed at what he had to do next.

"I hate you Gods." And with that, he opened a dumpster, jumped inside, closed the top and hid quietly, hoping the two ShinRa turks wouldn't find him there. The turks turned the corner, searching the alley behind the restaurant for their target.

"The waitress said she never saw our target before," one said. "She was lying. He has to be around here somewhere. Rude, we'll have to split up. I'll take the west and south part of the town, you take the east and north. Meet up in two hours." Rude nodded and departed to follow his orders. The other turk searched the alley one last time, seeing nothing but an oversized dumpster that was leaking grease and oil. And with that, the turk left. Axel stuck his head out, gasping for breath. He glared at the dumpster he was in and at the rotten food that clung to his checkered shirt.

"Great, now I smell like I just rolled in a pile of rotting meat. Great, just great. _How_ can my day get _any_ better?" His voice dripped with sarcasm as he climbed out of the hell-hole and wiped off all the food stuck his shirt, pants and arms. He looked around the area for any free maps at the tourist section of town and gladly found one. He opened it up, glancing over his shoulder to make sure one of the turks didn't sneak up on him. "Okay, so I'm here, in the middle of town. I need to go south east to get out of this place. Which would be… that way!" Axel folded the map back up, setting it neatly back where it was, and headed in the direction his freedom awaited. It was a cinch for him to evade the searching turk, who in his opinion, looked rather slow and lost. "Oh well, his loss I guess."

He reached the border of the town and gladly left the place behind. "What a shame too. Seemed like a nice, easy going place." He shrugged. "Eh, well, you win some you lose some." He started to head towards the next town when all of a sudden a bright light blinded his view. He was stunned, he had no idea what was happening. Was it a light from the ShinRa helicopter the turks had? No, there was no sound. Was it a car? No, the light was too bright to be normal headlights. Was it a UFO? Hm, possibly. Then, the light spoke in a rather deep but soothing voice.

_"What is it that you want most in this world?"_

"I don't want anything!" Axel shouted, wanting the strange moment to be over. The light seemed to dim for a second before becoming even bright, moving closer to the red head. And even as the bright light engulfed him, as he hid his eyes behind his arm, only one sentenced came to mind.

_'I just wanna be loved.'_

_**~Somewhere else far, far, far away~**_

Roxas woke up with a giant yawn as he rubbed his eyes free of any eye-crust. Once he was awake, he pulled the covers off and stood up, stretching his short body until he heard his bones crack and pop. He pushed some of his sand colored hair out his face, his bright blue eyes adjusting to the morning light that now entered his room through the window. "Great, another exciting day," he mumbled. "At least there's no school today." That's right, it was Saturday! Roxas opened his wooden dresser and pulled out his clothes for today, which consisted of a pair of gray baggy pants, a white shirt with a black keyblade pattern on the front, and two black socks. He dragged his feet into the bathroom and closed the door. He opened his cabinet to pull out the toothpaste which he then proceeded to put on his toothbrush.

After he was all dressed and ready to go, he went downstairs to cook himself some breakfast: bacon and eggs. Yum. After cooking that without getting any serious burns or injuries, he proceeded to leave the house, locking the front door with his set of keys. One thing that was nice about living along: he didn't have to tell his parents where he was going and he didn't have to worry about being home by dinner time. Yep, it was nice, but it kinda got boring after a while. There was nothing to do at his house, so he would spend the day with the few friends he had, or he would go and take short strolls by the river half a mile away in the back of his house. He whistle a tune as he stuck his hands in his pockets and kicked a pebble until he got to his destination. The river was nice, it was about seven feet deep in the middle, which was great for swimming in. Plus the current wasn't very strong, thought it did go downstream. It wasn't too cold too, the water always seemed to be the perfect temperature no matter what the weather was. He took a seat on the grass and stared at the water running by. It was times like this that the water seemed to sooth him, the constant sound of running water washing away the time. About a few hours of just staring at the river and the dropping sun, Roxas sighed."I wish I could fish in the river." But, of course, the river had no fish, taking away the fun of fishing. He looked downstream and something red caught his eye. "What's that?" He stood up and walked toward the river bank slowly, being cautious incase it was a wild animal or something. But instead, he found the total opposite. There, on the river bank, he saw a man no older than twenty unconscious. But this isn't what really surprised Roxas. What surprised him was the man's _hair_.

The man's hair was a bright red, almost like the color of bright cherry or something. It was all in long spikes, which made Roxas wonder how much gel the man used to get his hair to stay that way. The man was wearing a checkered black and white shirt, black pants and had black wrist bands on. As Roxas made his way over to wake the guy up, he noticed small upside-down teardrop tattoos under his eyes. "What odd tattoos…" He almost reached out and touched them, but stopped when the man let out a small, tired groan. "I should get you to my house." Roxas threw the man's arm around his shoulders and put his arm around his waist. He took a few steps, dragging the man's legs as he did. "This would be a lot easier if you weren't so damn tall." He helped the guy to his house and miraculously got him upstairs to the guest bedroom without dropping him. He threw (or at least tried to) the man on to the bed before catching his breath. He took a seat next to the bed and stared at the stranger, already creating so many questions in his for him to answer when he awoke. Things like 'who are you' or 'what were you doing at the river' and even 'why do you spike your hair like that.' But when the man gave another groan and opened his eyes, all of Roxas's questions disappeared in an instant.

Axel slowly sat up, leaning against his elbow as he grabbed his head with his other hand. "I feel like I got hit by a bus… Huh?" He looked to the side and saw a young boy around eighteen looking right at him with his mouth open and wide eyes. It was only when he realized that the boy was staring at him did he look away, hiding his face. "Where am I?" The boy snapped out of his gaze and gave a small cough.

"You're in my house. I found by the side of the river out back. Um…" The boy couldn't help but stare. Axel just sighed, he really wasn't in the mood for the boy's staring. He knew what would probably happen next. The kid would find one good reason to hate him by the time Axel left. He knew it. It always turned out like that.

"What's your name?"

"Roxas."

"Roxas… Hn. The name's Axel. A-X-E-L. Got it memorized?" Axel asked as he tapped the side of his temple. Roxas simply nodded. "So where are we anyway? Last I remember was being at Traverse Town." Roxas slightly tilted his head,

"Traverse town? That at least three hundred miles away. You're in Twilight Town now." Axel stared out the window near the bed. 300 miles? No, that couldn't be right. He was in Traverse Town when that light came… "So… you live in Traverse Town I'm guessing?"

"No," Axel replied quickly. "I'm a drifter. I don't stay in one place for more than three days usually." _'More like I _can't _stay longer that…'_

"Oh… So I'm guessing you'll be leaving here soon then too?" Something in boy's voice made Axel want to stay make him believe he was welcome here. He slowly turned his face towards Roxas, but refused to make eye contact with him. He put on a charming smile, noticing Roxas's cheeks turn slightly red. He chuckled,

"Nah, I guess I can stay here a while. As long you can prove me with a shelter, that is." Roxas grinned.

"You're welcome here anytime, Axel."

"Thanks Roxi." The boy's grin disappeared and was replaced with a frown and glare.

"Don't call me Roxi!"

"Oh ho! Such a short temper we have here huh?" Axel sat up and ruffled Roxas's hair; said blond pushing his hand away with a glare. "Okay, okay! I won't tease ya… too much." Roxas simply rolled his eyes, earning a chuckle from Axel.

"That's a nice thank you for saving your ass," Roxas replied. Axel smiled.

"Thank you, Roxas. Now how about some dinner? I'm starving! Chop, chop!" Axel clapped his hands, signaling he wanted Roxas to make him lunch quickly. Roxas stood and glared.

"If you want dinner, make it yourself, lazy ass." Axel got out of bed and followed Roxas downstairs where he was shown all the locations of the dish-wear and appliances. After a hearty dinner, Axel went back to the bed he awoke in to go to sleep. He had no idea how he had gotten there, or how Roxas had exactly found him. But he was sure on one thing, he would most likely be gone by sunrise tomorrow.

**XxXxX  
****A/N: *hides behind shield* okay don't kill me! I know I sucked at writing Roxas and I'm sorry! Well, if the chapter ain't that good, I blame it on the time. I was up at 3:30 writing this and i just finished at 6:29. So i gotta go now before the school security guards might wanna take my laptop away. So goodbye everyone! Have a great day! Oh! And please review :D**

_The darkness I liveth, the darkness I love  
__~roo the nobody vampire_


	3. Chapter 3: First Time For Everything

To Love a Fire Beast  
Chapter Two: First Time For Everything

**Woo! I got so many Story Alerts and Fav Stories! Thank you all for reading! But I would like to give a SPECIAL thanks to those who actually took an extra fifteen to thirty seconds writing a review. *Bows* Thank you for reviewing. And to those of you who are reading this second chapter, please hit the review button at the bottom and tell me how I can work on my writing/ideas. I know I make several mistakes in each chapter, and I apologize. So once again, thank you for reading.**

**XxXxX**

Axel kicked a pebble as he walked along the river that ran past Roxas' house. The sun had just barely lifted over the horizon when Axel snuck out of the house to leave, quietly making sure he didn't disturb the blond's sleep. He felt a little bad though, just leaving like he did without repaying his debt to the boy. But he knew better than to get attached to the kid. In the end, both of them would just end up being hurt. His stomach growled and let out a sigh. "Man, I shoulda at least stole a sandwich or somethin' before I left." He looked at the other side of the river and studied it. The river was at least ten feet wide and the embankment on the other side was at least seven feet hight with a dense forest. The quickly calculated everything in his head and nodded; he would make it. He backed up from the river and ran towards it, jumping and landing perfectly on the other side of the river. He glanced over his shoulder and looked around to make sure no one had seen him jump the ten-foot inclined area. The coast was clear, of course, seeing there wasn't any houses around. He took a seat near on a boulder near the forest that lined the east side of the river and observed the scenery for about ten minutes. All he saw was grassy fields all around on the west side. If he had to guess, he would have said the nearest house and neighborhood was at least a good three miles away. The school was probably at least 3 and 1/2 from where Roxas lived. The redheaded man reached into his pocket and pulled out a small candy-bar, unwrapping it and putting the wrapper into his pocket; making sure he didn't litter the beautiful earth around him. "Well… could be worse," the redhead said to himself, chewing the candy in an uncaring way. "It could be a Mars bar instead of my delicious Mr. Goodbar… Although I have no idea why they call Mars. I mean, it isn't even from the planet mars. It has nothing to do with the planet _whatsoever_. Same thing with Milky Ways! Sheesh, the names people give candy-bars…"

"Well, what did you expect? People who name candy-bars are bound to come up with odd names," a voice replied from behind Axel. But he didn't jump in surprise or yelp or even flinch. Instead, he just took another bite of his Mr. Goodbar and grinned at the horizon.

"'Bout time you spoke up. You've been standing in the woods over there for five minutes. Felt kinda creepy being watched like that." Roxas came out and leaned on the boulder the redhead was seated on, crossing his arms. "How did you know I'd be here?"

"When I woke up, I figured you were probably gonna leave. I contemplated on locking the door last night, but figured you'd probably just leave through the window." Axel gave a chuckle. "So I got up early and sure enough, I saw you already a good quarter-mile away already. So I got dressed and followed. Although, I have no idea how you got across the river this far down without getting wet. I had to walk through the river upstream just to get on this side…"

"Well, you know, I've got my special ways." There was a hint of seriousness in the Axel's voice, letting Roxas know he didn't want to talk about it. "Sorry I left. I just… I'm not used to being treated like…" _'Like a human.'_

"Really? You seem like a cool guy, someone who would have a lot of friends to cause trouble with."

"Well, you shouldn't judge anyone by appearance. There will always be more to it than meets the eye." Roxas looked up at Axel, noticing several emotions run through his eyes in a mere second. He could see hate, rage, frustration, sorrow and most of all, loneliness. There wasn't a single hint of happiness or joy in them, only such negative emotions. But, for a hundredth of a second, Roxas could have swore he saw a glint of hope in those beautifully-odd eyes. Before he could even utter a syllable, Axel put on a smirk and changed the subject. "What about you? You seem like the type of person who keeps a few close friends at his side. Not much of the party type, are ya."

"Nope, but you are right. I have only around six friends, and three of them moved away so, yeah. Our school has a lot of pricks, so it's kinda hard to find a decent friend there, let alone one you can trust." Roxas pulled his black hoodie closer, rubbing his arms to warm them up. "I can't believe you're out here without a jacket or something on. It's almost 60 degrees right now."

"Eh, I'm a little cold," lied Axel. He wasn't cold at all, didn't even really notice it. "Isn't the temperature supposed to drop to 50 in eleven days?" Roxas gave a nod. "Winter's coming soon this year. You can tell by the sky."

"You're right. H-Hey, how about we go back to my house and eat some breakfast. I'm starving."

"Well, I dunno… You sure you don't mind?"

"Of course not, Axel. You're my friend, and friends look after each other." And as Axel jumped off the boulder, landing beside Roxas, he stared at the horizon with a look of awe. When he didn't follow Roxas, the blond turned around to find the redhead staring right at him, but of course still avoiding eye contact. "What? Is something wrong?"

"Friend?"

"Well… yeah. We're friends now. What, you never had a friend before or something?" Roxas joked, but when he noticed Axel give a tiny nod, his smile faded. "You serious? I can't believe you've never had a friend before. Not even in kindergarten?" Axel shook his head. "Well… I guess there's a first time for everything, huh? Come on, I don't want you catching a cold."

"Roxas?" The blond looked up at his friend who gave him such a cheery and happy smile, causing Roxas to blush slightly. Thankfully, the cold atmosphere gladly covered it up. "Thanks." The blond gladly returned a smile.

So after they reached Roxas' house and had a filling breakfast, Roxas decided to give Axel a grand tour of Twilight Town. They walked about 3 1/2 miles to reach the town. (Axel gave a small victorious grin when he found out his estimate was correct.) It was a small, quiet town with a popular college. "Our college is one of the best, people from all over come to apply for it. Kingdom Hearts University, but most just call it KH or KHU. We only have around two thousand students, only the best are accepted. Either you have a 4.0 or 3.5 GPA, or you're a rich kid with a 3.0 GPA. Anyone with a GPA under 3.0 is rejected." Axel raised a red eyebrow.

"Really? Interesting. Where are you at?"

"I worked my ass off all throughout high-school to keep up a 3.5 GPA. I barely made it into the college. What about you, you go to college?"

"Nah. I never stay in one place long enough to even try to enroll."

"Hey, since you'll be staying with me for a while, why don't you join KH? What was your GPA in high-school?"

"Um…" The redhead scanned his brain on what to say. After, he had never gone to high-school before. "I can't remember…?" Roxas shrugged.

"Eh, you can still try and take the enrollment test. But I heard it's pretty hard, only about 68% of the people who take it pass."

"I bet I could pass it no problem," Axel said, smirking as Roxas rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, and I date boys," the bond replied sarcastically.

"Really? You know, I figured you swung that way the minute I saw you." Roxas' face heated up as he punched Axel in the arm. "Ow! Hey, easy there kid, I was kidding. Jeez, you're stronger than you look."

"W-Well don't judge people by appearance. Now let me show you the rest of the town. Over there is the college and just over that small hill is downtown. Now over there you'll…" The two continued to roam the town, Roxas being Axel's personal tour-guide. They had lunch over at Grind and Dine (in Hawaii, we sometimes say 'ho, those da killer grinds yeah?' it means eats, i think. food, whatever) and a few huge cheeseburgers. After that, Roxas took Axel over to Sunset Ridge, the other side of Twilight Town. It was smaller than Twilight, but not by much. "The sunsets here are beautiful. Especially if you watch them from up there, on Sunset HIll. It's also said, during the winter time, you can see the green-flash just before the sun sets. If you do, you're supposed to make a wish. Oh, and I guess you could say that Sunset Ridge holds the 'Seven Wonders of Twilight Town.' But me and my friend Pence figured out they were all hoaxes."

"Well that's too bad, I was hoping they they were real. Hey Roxas, what time is it?" Said boy looked at his watch.

"It's about… 5:30. Why, what's up?" Axel seemed a little hesitant in replying, looking at the people around him who stared at him for his unnaturally spiky red hair. "Axel?"

"I was wondering if… maybe we could watch the sunset at Sunset Hill. I haven't been able to watch an entire sunset for a while now and was hoping maybe…" Roxas smiled and nodded.

"Sure, I love to watch sunsets. It should be setting in around an hour or so. Until then, we could check out the Seven Wonders?" Axel grinned, glad his friend was understanding. First wonder was the stairs near the train platform. The wonder was that the stairs count differently going up and down. Truth was, somebody was just miscounting them. Second wonder: that balls seem to come out from a brick wall in an alley out of nowhere! Truth: some kid was just throwing balls and hiding behind a box. Third was that there were moans coming from one of the old tunnels, but it just turned out to be someone training in there for the next Struggle competition. As they went on, the wonders kept getting weirder to Axel. They had checked out five of the seven wonders when Roxas suddenly looked at his watch. "6:45? We'll miss the sunset!" They quickly ran towards Sunset Hill, Axel leaving Roxas behind as he ran his fastest to the location. As he stepped onto the rise, he was suddenly overcome with the feeling of peacefulness as he came face-to-face with a beautiful orange-red sunset. He slowly walked up to the safety railing and leaned on it, completely in a trance. Roxas finally caught up, inhaling deep gulps of breath as he tried to even his breathing.

"It's beautiful…" Axel stated. Roxas smiled and nodded, finally slowing his pants down into even breaths.

"It is. It's one of the most famous spots in Twilight Town because of the view." And as the two stood there in silence watching the sun set, Roxas took a glance at Axel. The man seemed so different from others he knew; from his strange hair right down to his personality. He continued to stare when he thought he saw Axel change into a child for a second; just a quick glimpse of a 16 year old Axel with an orange tank-top and a green bandana hanging around his neck. _'Must be my imagination,'_ he thought as he turned back towards the sky just in time to see the green flash. "Better make a wish, Axel."

"Okay." The redhead closed his eyes and took in a breath of cold air as he looked very serene. _'I have only one wish at the moment… I wish to stay with Roxas, and to become great friends with him without him finding out about my abilities...'_ He opened his eyes to see the sun setting completely on the ocean horizon. He looked over at Roxas and grinned. "Well, we better get back before it gets too dark." As they got onto the train and took their seats, Axel spoke up again. "You know, I saw a place that probably has a better view than Sunset Hill and we don't need to pay for train tickets to get there."

"Really? Where?"

"I'll show you tomorrow. So, ya got a girl?"

"N-No."

"How bout a boy?"

"N-No! Axel! I'm not gay!" The redhead just laughed.

"Easy, easy. Are you sure? Because you seem to be overreacting when I joke about that."

"Well I–" The blond went quiet and Axel tilted his head slightly.

"You don't know yet, do you. What your sexuality is." Roxas shook his head. "Well, that's alright. If you lean towards one rather than the other, it's no biggie. Nothing to be ashamed about." The boy stared down at his hands in his lap, thinking quietly.

"Axel…"

"Hm?"

"Why do you avoid eye contact with everyone? I mean, I rarely even get to see what your eyes look like." As Roxas went to look up at Axel, he looked the other way.

"It's something I just do. No specific reason." The rest of the train ride was quiet. As they reached Roxas' house, Axel went straight for the guest bedroom to be alone and Roxas suddenly regretted asking the question.

"I should have known better. He's very… complex." And Roxas hated complex things, but he couldn't bring himself to hate Axel. "I guess I should go apologize." He made his way upstairs to say sorry and opened the door after giving a little knock. He found Axel asleep, the window and curtains near the bed open and flowing in the small breeze. He should have just left to leave the man sleeping, but instead found himself dragging a chair next to the bed and staring at his friend as he slept. He looked so calm, peaceful in that moment, like a wildfire starting to burn gently among the wind. Without even thinking, Roxas lifted a hand and traced one of Axel's tattoos under his eye. The skin was so soft, so smooth. He didn't even notice Axel starting to stir and open his eyes. The second the man realized what was happening, he bolted upright and pressed himself against the wall opposite of Roxas, startling the blond out of his trance. "I-I'm sorry!"

"What were you doing?" The redhead asked, almost in a snake like way. He looked around the room as if he forgot where he was before relaxing and letting out a sigh. "I'm sorry, I overreacted. I thought you were someone else. Sorry for startling you."

"No, I'm sorry. I just wanted to come in and apologize for earlier. I'll leave you alone now." He turned to leave when he heard Axel rustle the sheets.

"Wait, come back. Sit back down." He did as he was told and took his seat again on the chair. "You came to apologize for earlier?" He nodded. "You're mean when you asked about my eyes…"

"Yeah… That's right. I know it was none of my business, but I just really wanted to know why you won't let people see your eyes. I didn't mean to upset your or anything." Axel shook his head.

"No, there's no need to apologize. It's just…" He stared at the bed as Roxas sat there waiting for him to continue. When he didn't say anthying, Roxas nodded and went to stand up. "I'll let you look at my eyes. Just… please don't be afraid."

"Afraid? Axel, I'm not gonna…" And he looked up into Axel's eyes and gave a small gasp as he stared in awe. His eyes were a bright green, just so shiny and reflective like a cat's. And his pupil's were also slightly slit, like a cat's in morning light; but it was hardly noticeable unless you looked straight into his eyes. Axel put on a worried look when Roxas just continued to stare without uttering a word. He looked away and Roxas stood up. Axel knew he was gonna run, everyone who noticed his eyes did. They feared him, and hated him. He was different, and he always would be.

"Axel… Your eyes…" The redhead looked like a child who was expecting to be hit, awaiting harsh words that he had heard everyday as a child. He seemed to flinch when Roxas continued to speak, only to look up in surprise. "…they're beautiful."

**xXxXx**

Not that far away, a different redhead sat back into his couch, flipping through the channels of his T.V with a pepsi in his hand. Over 200 channels, and there wasn't a single interesting thing on. _'What a boring vacation,'_ he thought. He took a sip of his drink and shut the television off; a rather annoyed look on his face. He took a step through the kitchen doorway and tossed the can into the recycling bin. "He shoots…" The can landed perfectly in the bin. "He scores. Woo." He walked up his stairs and took a right to enter his bedroom, closing the door behind him. He jumped and landed on his bed, bouncing slightly as he stared at the ceiling. He thought about his job and what his old partner was up to. "I wonder how Rude's doing…"

**XxXxX  
****Sorry for the rush, had to update quickly cuz my mom's being a bitch at the moment. Alright! That's it! Hope you enjoyed it. Oh, and I'm upping the rating to M because I actually started to write out a rape-ish scene in class today. (A horrible place to write one. I was so paranoid someone would look at what I was writing and start freaking out.) So, yeah. Maybe in two or three chapters that scene'll be coming up. And yes, oh my goodness Axel finally showed his eyes to Roxas! And now another redhead is slowly coming into the picture! What will happen? Stay tuned! (AND PLEASE REVIEW!)**

_The darkness I liveth, the darkness I love  
__~roo the nobody vampire_


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